Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

Circle confirms Sept. 16 Arc launch as BlackRock, Visa join validator group

Circle has announced that its Arc blockchain will launch on the public mainnet on Sept. 16, with BlackRock, DTCC, Mastercard, Visa, Standard Chartered, and other global financial institutions serving as founding validators.　　According to Circle, Arc is currently running on a private mainnet with more than 100 institutional and ecosystem participants, ahead of its public mainnet launch scheduled for Sept. 16.　　The company said BlackRock, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Galaxy, Global Payments, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation and Visa will join Circle as the networks founding validators, helping secure and govern the blockchain from launch.　　Arc launches with financial institutions as validators　　Circle said the validator model is designed around institutions that are also building on the network rather than relying on independent operators. According to the company, the structure is intended to meet the operational, compliance and security requirements expected of financial market infrastructure while supporting open blockchain applications.　　The announcement also confirms that Arc has moved into a private mainnet phase after earlier operating through a public testnet. Circle had previously said more than 100 organizations, including banks, asset managers and blockchain companies, were testing the network before launch.　　Mastercard Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert said the

08-05Industry

Boerse Stuttgart Digital finalizes Tradias merger, creating 300 employee crypto unit

Boerse Stuttgart Digital and institutional crypto trading firm Tradias have completed their merger after receiving regulatory approval for the required ownership control procedure, creating a combined digital asset business with about 300 employees.　　SummaryBoerse Stuttgart Digital and Tradias have completed their merger after securing regulatory approval, creating a digital asset business with about 300 employees.The combined company will provide institutional trading, custody, staking and tokenization services while Tradias continues as the trading brand.The merger builds on Boerse Stuttgarts institutional crypto expansion, including its partnership with DekaBank and the rollout of its Seturion settlement platform.Tradias contributes trading and market making across more than 150 digital assets and serves banks, brokers and government institutions across Europe.　　An announcement released on Wednesday said the deal, first unveiled in February, has now closed following completion of the required ownership control procedure, bringing the two regulated crypto businesses under a single structure focused on institutional clients across Europe.　　The combined company will operate under the Boerse Stuttgart Digital name, while Tradias will continue as the dedicated brand for trading services. Together, the business will offer trading, custody, staking and tokenization services for banks, brokers and other financial institutions.　　Operations will be managed from Frankfurt and Stuttgart, supported by teams

08-05Industry

Taiwan moves to enforce Travel Rule across domestic crypto platforms

Taiwan has proposed mandatory customer information sharing for all domestic crypto platform transfers, with new Travel Rule requirements scheduled to begin in October.　　According to Taiwans Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), draft amendments released on Tuesday would require virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to exchange customer information for every transfer between domestic crypto platforms, regardless of transaction value.　　The regulator said transfers above 30,000 New Taiwan dollars (about $930) would face additional identification requirements before they could be processed.　　The proposal would also require receiving VASPs to verify that beneficiary details provided by the sending platform match the information held in their own records. The FSC said the amendments will enter a 30-day public consultation before any final rules are adopted.　　Taiwan expands Travel Rule requirements　　Under the proposed framework, platforms handling transfers above the NT$30,000 threshold would need to transmit more detailed customer information.　　For individual senders, the FSC said platforms must provide the customers date of birth and residential address alongside existing transfer information. Corporate senders would instead need to disclose their official identification number and registered business address.　　Receiving platforms would no longer be limited to accepting transmitted information. The proposal requires them to compare beneficiary information received from the originating VASP against their own

08-05Industry

Coldcard hack sparks a self-custody security overhaul: Cory Klippsten

SummarySwan CEO Cory Klippsten said the Coldcard attack prompted bitcoin holders to reexamine their custody decisions.He said he mobilized his team to help affected holders move their coins to safety, including people who were not Swan clients.Rather than abandoning self-custody, affected users are migrating toward vaults that prevent any single compromised device from putting funds at risk.　　Cory Klippsten was at a wedding in Paris when the messages started coming in.　　“It was a brutal weekend for so many who lost bitcoin,” the CEO of Swan said in an interview. “I was sending messages at 4 a.m. to help someone on Pacific Time get their coins to safety.”　　That was last Thursday, when attackers began draining bitcoin from thousands of Coldcard hardware wallets, exploiting a firmware flaw that had sat undetected for five years.　　A defect in a March 2021 firmware update for the Coinkite-made wallet left users with private keys that were less secure than they should have been. By the time three waves of attack had rolled through, almost 1,600 BTC valued at over $100 million had been swept from around 7,300 addresses, according to Galaxy Research.　　Swan, a U.S.-based platform that helps individuals buy, hold and self-custody bitcoin, paused withdrawals for at-risk

08-05Industry

Taiwan plans Travel Rule for domestic crypto transfers from October

Taiwans financial regulator plans to require crypto platforms to transmit customer information on all domestic platform-to-platform transfers starting in October.　　On Tuesday, the Financial Supervisory Commission said its proposed amendments would apply the Financial Action Task Forces (FATF) Travel Rule regardless of value.　　Transfers exceeding 30,000 New Taiwan dollars (about $930) would trigger additional data requirements, including an individual sender‘s date of birth and residential address, or a corporate sender’s official identification number and registered address. Receiving VASPs would also be required to compare beneficiary information supplied by the originating platform with their own records.　　The FSC plans to extend the framework to transfers between domestic and overseas VASPs by the end of 2027.　　Taiwan introduced Travel Rule provisions in its AML regulations in 2021 but did not implement them, citing differences among countries regulatory requirements, incompatible information-transmission standards and difficulties connecting cross-border systems. The FSC said the proposed amendments would soon enter a 30-day public consultation.　　The proposal comes as Travel Rule adoption advances globally but remains uneven. In July, the FATF said 83% of surveyed jurisdictions had enacted Travel Rule legislation, up from 73% in 2025, while warning that significant implementation and enforcement gaps remained.

08-05Industry

Cipher slides 16% on wider Q2 losses as Bernstein sees upside from Texas power audit

Quick TakeCipher Digital shares tumbled 15.7% on Tuesday after the company announced wider losses in the second quarter of this year.Bernstein maintained its Outperform rating and a $32 price target, citing potential Texas power audit upside.　　Cipher Digital (CIFR) shares fell 15.7% on Tuesday after the bitcoin (BTC) miner reported wider losses in the second quarter of this year.　　The bitcoin miner-turned-HPC developer posted a net loss of $267.5 million in the second quarter, more than five times the loss it registered a year ago, according to its Q2 report released Tuesday. It posted $24.8 million in revenue in the quarter, down from $43.6 million in Q2 2025.　　The company also said that it delivered its first Black Pearl data center capacity at the beginning of August, roughly two months ahead of schedule.　　“A core strength of our strategy is its repeatability, and in the second quarter, we demonstrated that once again,” said Tyler Page, CEO of Cipher. “We accessed capital markets to fund another one of our leases, secured an option on a new site, and delivered accelerated capacity to our tenant, further building our position as a leading HPC development platform.”　　Despite the weaker quarterly results, Bernstein analysts reiterated their “Outperform” rating for

08-05Industry

Live updates: An AI credit bubble could set up bitcoins path to $1 million

The whole macro case for BTC rests on the 10-year real yield, Bitfinex says　　Crypto exchange Bitfinex has said that bitcoins (BTC) bullish case rests on the real or inflation-adjusted yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note.　　“The 10-year real yield has not stayed above 2.5% since before Bitcoin existed, so there is no price history above that line. It is now at 2.41%, nine basis points below,” the exchange said on X.　　“Hold above 2.5%, and the macro tailwind is gone,” it added.　　Bond yields have risen sharply since the onset of the Iran war in late February, weakening the case for risk-taking in financial markets. Yet, stocks have continued to hit new record highs, leaving bitcoin and gold far behind.

08-05Industry

Why bitcoin‘s ’500-day rule faces its biggest test yet

“I dont think the 500-day rule will be as relevant in the current cycle. BTC is now primarily institutionally driven. ETF inflows have dwarfed the halving supply shock.”　　Following the April 2024 halving, bitcoin miners produced about 450 BTC per day, worth about $35 million to $40 million, Fernandes said. By comparison, the daily spot bitcoin ETF flows in 2024 and 2025 ranged from about $100 million to $1 billion, he added.　　The contrast suggests ETF flows now outweigh the new supply created by miners, blunting the halvings direct impact. Additionally, those flows can also reverse, adding selling pressure on the price of bitcoin, as seen recently, making these ETF moves a dominant force in price moves.　　Aryan Sheikhalian, investor and head of research at CMT Digital, agreed with Greenspan and Fernandes, saying the mechanism and fundamentals that have historically driven the bitcoin halving cycle are fading.　　“New supply from miners is de minimis next to spot bitcoin ETFs and corporate U.S. Treasury flows, and those flows set both the top and this years unwind,” Sheikhalian said.　　There are, however, still some believers in this four-year cycle of halving, and its historical impact and miner economics remain fundamental mechanics of the bitcoin market.

08-05Industry

MiCA list expands with 12 companies in fourth post-deadline update

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) added 12 companies to its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) register in its fourth update since the July 1 transitional deadline.　　Published on July 31, the update brings the total number of authorized crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) listed under MiCA to 321. The latest additions include three German cooperative banks: Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Oberbayern Südost, VR Bank Schleswig-Holstein Mitte and VR-Bank Landau-Mengkofen.　　The list also includes two companies in Spain — Basque Pay and Fintech Payments — and four in France — Finary, Woorton, Blockchain Process Security and Shares Financial Assets.Twelve CASPs added in ESMA’s July 31 MiCA register update. Source: ESMA　　ESMA‘s update also added three companies to its non-compliant entities register: Cervo Rendisco, Flandenzo and Corona Fondenza, flagged by Italy’s Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB). The non-compliant entities register now includes 167 entries.　　The latest update did not include changes to other MiCA-related registers. The number of authorized e-money token (EMT) issuers remains at 41, while no asset-referenced token (ART) issuers are currently listed on the register.

08-05Industry

Forgd brings its crypto market-maker leaderboard to DefiLlama

Crypto analytics platform DefiLlama has integrated Forgds market-maker leaderboard, giving users access to data on spreads, market depth, trading volume and uptime.　　In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph, Forgd said that the dashboard ranks crypto market makers using standardized measures of pricing, depth, reliability and execution quality. The data comes from more than 500 token projects and 35 market-making firms that use Forgds tools to monitor liquidity across active engagements, according to the company.　　The integration allows DefiLlama users to compare market makers across exchanges and assess the liquidity supporting individual tokens. Forgd first launched the leaderboard in May as a tool for token projects selecting and monitoring liquidity providers.　　Ryan Celaj, DefiLlamas head of research, said the integration adds another signal for evaluating execution quality and market resilience alongside metrics such as volume and liquidity.　　However, the ratings do not solely reflect observed trading performance. “A lower grade on the index is not necessarily a judgment of a firms trading,” Forgd CEO Shane Molidor told Cointelegraph.　　“It reflects that they havent yet fully opted into performance verification.” This means that the leaderboard ratings may also reflect the amount of data a market maker provides to Forgd.　　Forgd and DefiLlama did not disclose financial terms for

08-05Industry

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